David Lammy defends jury trial shake-up after Labour MP threatens to step down - The Mirror

David Lammy insisted the Government's proposal to scrap thousands of jury trials and replace them with 'swift courts' will be life-changing for victims after Labour MP Karl Turner's by-election threat

David Lammy has defended plans to scrap jury trials and replace them with 'swift courts' for thousands of cases every year.

The Deputy PM faces a backlash over the controversial shake-up of the UK's creaking justice system. It comes after Labour MP Karl Turner threatened to step down and force a by-election if the controversial measures are not scrapped.

And senior lawyers have voiced their opposition to the plans, which would see judges deliver verdicts in cases where a defendant faces a sentence of three years or less. Writing for The Mirror after seeing a similar system in action in Canada, Mr Lammy - who is also Justice Secretary - insisted the plans would make a huge difference to victims.

To read Mr Lammy's words in full, click here

He said: "I heard from judges who said these trials were much faster than those heard by juries - sometimes cutting trial lengths in half. For victims, that difference is life-changing."

And he added: "Canada shows there is a better way. This government has the guts to take it." Mr Lammy argued that without action, there would be nearly 120,000 cases waiting to be heard in England and Wales' crown courts by the end of the decade.

The Government plans to drop jury trials for offences with a likely sentence of three years or less. This will exclude serious crimes, including murder and rape.

Proposed measures also include limiting the ability to appeal a magistrates' court verdict. Ministers have yet to set out legisltion bringing in the change.

Mr Turner last week voted against the proposals in a Commons vote, and warned he would consider triggering a by-election by stepping down in Hull East - where he had a majority of under 4,000.

He told The Sunday Times he had been wrongly accused when he was an antiques dealer and items he bought turned out to be stolen, which he did not know. The former shadow attorney general and criminal barrister said he was advised to elect a jury trial, and the case was thrown out due to lack of evidence.

He said he was willing to force a by-election on a principled point, telling the newspaper: “When I say this matters to me, it really matters to me.”

Mr Turner has previously texted Keir Starmer, himself a former head of the Crown Prosecution Service, telling him he "should be ashamed of himself". Last month 39 Labour MPs wrote to the Prime Minister spelling out their opposition to the proposals.

Under the plan, the number of cases going to juries is expected to halve from 3% to 1.5%. The changes follow a major review by retired senior judge Sir Brian Leveson, who proposed a new courts division involving a judge and two magistrates.

The Government went further and decided to propose judge-only trials. Last week new Victims' Commissioner Claire Waxman told The Mirror that the proposal challenges long-held traditions and must be fiercely debated.

She continued: “But we must all face a hard truth: our court system has been turned into an endurance test that breaks the very people it is meant to serve. A system that forces a rape survivor to wait five or more years for their chance at justice is not working. This is justice in name only.”

The Government's proposals have been criticised by legal experts. Last month Brett Dixon, vice president of the Law Society of England and Wales, said: "The government’s proposals go too far in eroding our fundamental right to be judged by a jury of our own peers."